The fall of 2013 is the 4th semester we have studied Education at Houston Baptist University. It marks a turning point in which the depth and breath of what we do matters significantly more than the tasks we are completing. In these two courses we were challenged to think profoundly about each task. We were asked to apply strategies for success while explaining how and why those strategies worked.
This academic rigor is to prepare use to answer hard questions that our schools might one day ask us not as professionals but rather as graduates of HBU. As Texans, we are required to demonstrate the mastery of our craft. Here are standards we must adhere, mentor and enforce.
Standard I: The Master Technology Teacher effectively models and applies classroom teaching methodology and curriculum models that promote active student learning through the integration of technology and addresses the varied learning needs of all students.
Standard II: The Master Technology Teacher selects and administers appropriate technology-related assessments on an ongoing basis and uses the results to design and improve instruction.
Standard III: The Master Technology Teacher applies knowledge of digital learning competencies including Internet research, graphics, animation, website mastering and video technology.
Standard IV: The Master Technology Teacher serves as a resource regarding the integration of assistive technologies and accessible design concepts to meet the needs of all students.
Standard V: The Master Technology Teacher facilitates appropriate, research-based technology instruction by communicating and collaborating with educational stakeholders; mentoring, coaching and consulting with colleagues; providing professional development opportunities for faculty; and making decisions based on converging evidence from research.
This academic rigor is to prepare use to answer hard questions that our schools might one day ask us not as professionals but rather as graduates of HBU. As Texans, we are required to demonstrate the mastery of our craft. Here are standards we must adhere, mentor and enforce.
Standard I: The Master Technology Teacher effectively models and applies classroom teaching methodology and curriculum models that promote active student learning through the integration of technology and addresses the varied learning needs of all students.
Standard II: The Master Technology Teacher selects and administers appropriate technology-related assessments on an ongoing basis and uses the results to design and improve instruction.
Standard III: The Master Technology Teacher applies knowledge of digital learning competencies including Internet research, graphics, animation, website mastering and video technology.
Standard IV: The Master Technology Teacher serves as a resource regarding the integration of assistive technologies and accessible design concepts to meet the needs of all students.
Standard V: The Master Technology Teacher facilitates appropriate, research-based technology instruction by communicating and collaborating with educational stakeholders; mentoring, coaching and consulting with colleagues; providing professional development opportunities for faculty; and making decisions based on converging evidence from research.
This is a listing of tools and the artifacts they created in support of the Texas Master Technology Teacher Standards as they were employed during the Fall of 2013.
Standard |
Artifact |
Supporting Comments |
Standard 1
The Master Technology Teacher effectively models and applies classroom teaching methodology and curriculum models that promote active student learning through the integration of technology and addresses the varied learning needs of all student |
Wiki's provide scaffolding for active learning. They lead the student through a series of active learning steps with a clear focused goal in mind. Here are links to my 9th grade project.
A web quest is another structured learning environment that can address varied learning styles and encourages collaborative team learning. A Blog encourages young writers by exposing them to a wider group of readers. |
Standard 2
The Master Technology Teacher selects and administers appropriate technology-related assessments on an ongoing basis and uses the results to design and improve instruction. |
Mind Mapping app to assess a Spanish language exercise.
A picture is worth a 1000 words. On-line productivity tools for collaborative and individual assessment. KWHL is a goal oriented table. |
Assessment is perhaps the hinge pin to adopting change in our educational system. We studied the mechanics of new technologies as they enable assessment of individual tasks and collaborative activities. Mind mapping is a great tool to see where on Piaget's scale a student's cognitive effort lies. Mapping can quickly illustrate classification, logic, concrete and abstract thinking skills. They other two technologies provide additional methods of assessment.
What I Know, What I want to know, How I will do it, and what I have Learned KWHL is a student's planning and self-assessment tool. I feel this was gift that I was given from this class. |
Standard 3
The Master Technology Teacher applies knowledge of digital learning competencies including Internet research, graphics, animation, website mastering and video technology. |
16 things has a 17th, I added an entry for Virtual Field Trips.
This portfolio is a good example of how a website can be employed to impart information. From this page you can access various forms of multimedia that I have generated. Here is a lesson plan for a Spanish 1 class, and here is a re-write with additional on-line resources. |
Mastery of graphics and the Internet are the essential elements of a good web 2.0 strategy.
In Virtual Field Trips, these essential graphics are artfully employed to gain a students attention and maintain it throughout a self contained lesson plan. Graphics insure a student can use as many senses as possible to decode lesson material. This helps address Gardner's multiple intelligences theory by providing for different learning styles in effective and meaningful exercises. |
Standard 4
The Master Technology Teacher serves as a resource regarding the integration of assistive technologies and accessible design concepts to meet the needs of all students. |
Blogging helps reach student needs.
You Tube, Podcast, bookmarking, and photo related organizers and projects. |
Primarily, educators need to meet their students where they need to be met. For technology to be effective, it must be flexible enough to engage all students and meaningful enough to gain their interest.
You Tube video teasers are awesome at grabbing attention and focusing student interest. |
Standard 5
The Master Technology Teacher facilitates appropriate, research-based technology instruction by communicating and collaborating with educational stakeholders; mentoring, coaching and consulting with colleagues; providing professional development opportunities for faculty; and making decisions based on converging evidence from research. |
Book Report on Tony Wagner's new book "Creating Innovators: The Making of Young People Who Will Change the World." The process involved reading the text then in collaborative groups of two we developed our ideas, considered 3 tangential perspectives, and delivered both a written reflection piece and an oral presentation. This link is to the the slide show that supported our presentation. EDAD 5319
Change - Mathematics a framework for change |
As MEd. students we need to be able to synthesize the world around us with respect to education. Tony Wagner's book on Creating Innovation informs one on the need to create in school. To Create is the highest level in Bloom's Taxonomy and a valuable skill needed in industry and commerce. Developing a culture that supports innovation would promote higher level thinking by providing the foundation of Content Knowledge and the climate to innovate,
|
EDAD 5319 Internet Resource Management with Dr. Alysa Cozart
We set the tone of the class with a lesson on Copyrights. This is an effective if not sobering lesson to start a semester. Our ideas, our innovations are how we as academics trade and barter for our living. Copy-write laws provide both for those published and those about to be published.
In Cozart's 16 Things we actively studied web 2.0 technologies. We asked ourselves "how can we use these to teach? " This was a great focusing tasks. It meshed well with our other class EDAD 5320, in that we learned to use tools that would show up in our two lesson plans. The symbiotic relationship shared by these two courses is amazing for us to have worked through in person. In reflection, I would change the assignment title. I added another item and would like to add more. A title like "My Educational tools" would encourage continued use. like this portfolio piece, 16 things can be used to illustrate examples for colleagues and provide triggers for better lesson plans. While I was working on 16 things, I geared my responses and examples with the intention to use them latter. I wrote them as if I were writing to our teachers. I gave a little extra because I intended to one day teach with them.
I love the idea of lesson plans that are in some way digital. By having digital lesson plans, the teacher can annually improve upon them after each iterative cycle. As the nature of education changes, the interactive website will be a technology that can be upgraded and re purposed into E Books, ELearning, MOOC, and online courses. Wiki's, VFT, and Web Quests are great introductions into this digital skill. Having introduced an LMS to my school, I am aware of how valuable this skill is to a teacher and therefore how grateful we are to have been taught to use them.
Having exposure to all of these wonderful tools is fantastic in itself: but, imagine what can be understood and accomplished if we were also exposed to current trends, philosophy and theories as they are applied today. The Book Report accomplished this task. Asked to not only study one book, but rather, three additional perspectives. I learned this skill last year. I aggressively began asking myself who agreed and who disagreed with the author as I read Tony Wagner's book. As MEd candidates, we must be able to lucidly discuss emerging trends from various perspectives. I enjoyed this task and working with Kimberly. We used Google Docs, Evernote, ZITE, and ZOHO to edit our notes and reflective pieces. I used the HBU library and ZITE to locate much more than three alternative and supportive perspectives to Wagner's thesis. The book's avant-gar user of QR codes is time sensitive in reality as it emerges today. He offers a lesson to us all in that through tools like QR codes we can extend the life of our intellectual property as well as offer richer more vitalized and renewable content.
I feel as if I turned a corner during this class. Clearly the merging of education, pedagogy and philosophy is the area of study I would like to study as a predoctoral grad student.
We set the tone of the class with a lesson on Copyrights. This is an effective if not sobering lesson to start a semester. Our ideas, our innovations are how we as academics trade and barter for our living. Copy-write laws provide both for those published and those about to be published.
In Cozart's 16 Things we actively studied web 2.0 technologies. We asked ourselves "how can we use these to teach? " This was a great focusing tasks. It meshed well with our other class EDAD 5320, in that we learned to use tools that would show up in our two lesson plans. The symbiotic relationship shared by these two courses is amazing for us to have worked through in person. In reflection, I would change the assignment title. I added another item and would like to add more. A title like "My Educational tools" would encourage continued use. like this portfolio piece, 16 things can be used to illustrate examples for colleagues and provide triggers for better lesson plans. While I was working on 16 things, I geared my responses and examples with the intention to use them latter. I wrote them as if I were writing to our teachers. I gave a little extra because I intended to one day teach with them.
I love the idea of lesson plans that are in some way digital. By having digital lesson plans, the teacher can annually improve upon them after each iterative cycle. As the nature of education changes, the interactive website will be a technology that can be upgraded and re purposed into E Books, ELearning, MOOC, and online courses. Wiki's, VFT, and Web Quests are great introductions into this digital skill. Having introduced an LMS to my school, I am aware of how valuable this skill is to a teacher and therefore how grateful we are to have been taught to use them.
Having exposure to all of these wonderful tools is fantastic in itself: but, imagine what can be understood and accomplished if we were also exposed to current trends, philosophy and theories as they are applied today. The Book Report accomplished this task. Asked to not only study one book, but rather, three additional perspectives. I learned this skill last year. I aggressively began asking myself who agreed and who disagreed with the author as I read Tony Wagner's book. As MEd candidates, we must be able to lucidly discuss emerging trends from various perspectives. I enjoyed this task and working with Kimberly. We used Google Docs, Evernote, ZITE, and ZOHO to edit our notes and reflective pieces. I used the HBU library and ZITE to locate much more than three alternative and supportive perspectives to Wagner's thesis. The book's avant-gar user of QR codes is time sensitive in reality as it emerges today. He offers a lesson to us all in that through tools like QR codes we can extend the life of our intellectual property as well as offer richer more vitalized and renewable content.
I feel as if I turned a corner during this class. Clearly the merging of education, pedagogy and philosophy is the area of study I would like to study as a predoctoral grad student.
EDAD 5320 Systems Thinking Theory and Application Dr. Dawn Wilson
Reflection Piece,
Change theory as it applies to schools and effective use of technology in meaningful lesson plans, would ordinarily seem like two exclusive ideas if not the content of two separate courses. I found myself experiencing this course as if it were two separate courses. I studied change on odd days and applied Marzano principles on even days.
Change is a good topic and a timely one. With the Common Core State Standards, Teacher Evaluations, and a demand for equity in schools all leading toward change or reform, this is an important course. In my day job, I am exposed to change constantly. I call it technology and say that it never stands still. I manage change daily, but every once in a while I am part of a school wide effort. This course taught me the finer points of change and the nomenclature of change. I had used "horizontal and vertical communication" before in consultative jobs: however, through this course i learned why it is so important to a school's culture and tone.
I enjoyed reading the text book on change. The case histories of the eight schools were rewarding to read. I learned a lot in a brief read. The description of Chaos as a system component brief but urged me to read more about it. Pushing a student to learn on their own is a laudable goal.
Koehler and Mishra's seminal work on Technological, Pedagogical and Content Knowledgeable (TPACK) was the bridge between change and technology that works. TPACK is often the cause for reform. Student outcomes are the main reasons justifying the changing of a schools curriculum. Often it is the lack of TPACK in the foundational curriculum design that drives change. By using technology effectively in the classroom, students will learn and be willing partners. Additionally, the conversations between educators and administrators can be judged by the quality of pedagogical discussions they orchestrate. I have used TPACK since I first learned about the book a year ago. I relish the versatility of this framework for each content area as well as in general. I have observed that young teachers have vitality, drive and the latest theories while older teachers have experience and tons of tips and tricks. TPACK is the language that bridges these two groups of talented teachers.
The numbers, 9 Instructional Strategies, 4 Planning Questions, and 7 Categories of Technology characterize the second focus of this course. We designed lesson plans with the purpose of illustration one of the 9 strategies. We set lesson goals and structure by asking the 4 questions. I observed that while the individual technologies and web 2.0 tools might change, the actual pedagogical tasks haven't and won't. So asking the 4, matching the 9, and using the 7 will meet our students where they need to be met. Using change to improve our schools, I think, means focusing our schools on student outcomes and these numbers.
While I use Brain storming techniques almost daily, KWHL was a new concept for me. I observed last year that our text book carefully listed the learning goals at the start of each chapter. At the end of each chapter a review asked the student to use the skills and knowledge outlined earlier in the chapter goals. So I used a KWHL table in Google Docs. I feel confident that the data will show its use to be a deciding factor in the way "Millennial" learn.
As I reflected in the other course, the skills I learned through innovation, creation and practice were explained at a pedagogical and social psychological level in this course. In other words, where this course was the theory and knowledge, the other course was the tool. A neat symbiotic relationship. So far these were my most favorite classes along with the Psychology class.
Reflection Piece,
Change theory as it applies to schools and effective use of technology in meaningful lesson plans, would ordinarily seem like two exclusive ideas if not the content of two separate courses. I found myself experiencing this course as if it were two separate courses. I studied change on odd days and applied Marzano principles on even days.
Change is a good topic and a timely one. With the Common Core State Standards, Teacher Evaluations, and a demand for equity in schools all leading toward change or reform, this is an important course. In my day job, I am exposed to change constantly. I call it technology and say that it never stands still. I manage change daily, but every once in a while I am part of a school wide effort. This course taught me the finer points of change and the nomenclature of change. I had used "horizontal and vertical communication" before in consultative jobs: however, through this course i learned why it is so important to a school's culture and tone.
I enjoyed reading the text book on change. The case histories of the eight schools were rewarding to read. I learned a lot in a brief read. The description of Chaos as a system component brief but urged me to read more about it. Pushing a student to learn on their own is a laudable goal.
Koehler and Mishra's seminal work on Technological, Pedagogical and Content Knowledgeable (TPACK) was the bridge between change and technology that works. TPACK is often the cause for reform. Student outcomes are the main reasons justifying the changing of a schools curriculum. Often it is the lack of TPACK in the foundational curriculum design that drives change. By using technology effectively in the classroom, students will learn and be willing partners. Additionally, the conversations between educators and administrators can be judged by the quality of pedagogical discussions they orchestrate. I have used TPACK since I first learned about the book a year ago. I relish the versatility of this framework for each content area as well as in general. I have observed that young teachers have vitality, drive and the latest theories while older teachers have experience and tons of tips and tricks. TPACK is the language that bridges these two groups of talented teachers.
The numbers, 9 Instructional Strategies, 4 Planning Questions, and 7 Categories of Technology characterize the second focus of this course. We designed lesson plans with the purpose of illustration one of the 9 strategies. We set lesson goals and structure by asking the 4 questions. I observed that while the individual technologies and web 2.0 tools might change, the actual pedagogical tasks haven't and won't. So asking the 4, matching the 9, and using the 7 will meet our students where they need to be met. Using change to improve our schools, I think, means focusing our schools on student outcomes and these numbers.
While I use Brain storming techniques almost daily, KWHL was a new concept for me. I observed last year that our text book carefully listed the learning goals at the start of each chapter. At the end of each chapter a review asked the student to use the skills and knowledge outlined earlier in the chapter goals. So I used a KWHL table in Google Docs. I feel confident that the data will show its use to be a deciding factor in the way "Millennial" learn.
As I reflected in the other course, the skills I learned through innovation, creation and practice were explained at a pedagogical and social psychological level in this course. In other words, where this course was the theory and knowledge, the other course was the tool. A neat symbiotic relationship. So far these were my most favorite classes along with the Psychology class.